Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” – Revelation 5:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 19, 2015): Revelation 5

John Wesley once wrote that “The Revelation [of John] was not written without tears; neither without tears will it be understood.” (John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament.) The pages of the Revelation are marked often with agony and trials, they tell the story of a church who is experiencing persecution but is on the verge of victory. And maybe that is why in recent days we have struggled with the meaning of the words. What we want is a roadmap to the end, but what it gives us is a story of tears with just a glimpse of the coming solution.

John cries as he hears the plea for someone to come and to open the scrolls, but no one is found who is worthy of the task. You can almost feel John, remembering the vision of Isaiah recorded in Isaiah 6, wanting to respond like Isaiah with the words “send me.” But the reality that John knows is that he is also not qualified for the task. In fact, in this environment he might be the least qualified. And so he cries tears of pain – what else could he do.

But the word comes to John that the Lion of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. This might have been something that John had questioned. Jesus was crucified and, yes, he rose from the dead, but that was so long ago. And now John was marooned on the island of Patmos, a political prisoner of Rome, and he had to wonder just little who had really won the fight. At the time of this writing, Jerusalem and the temple had been gone for over twenty-five years, and the Jewish mountain fortress of Masada had been gone for over twenty years. It just didn’t feel like a win.

This is the only place in the Bible where Jesus is referred to as the Lion of Judah. The reference goes back to a prophecy that Jacob (Israel) spoke over his son Judah -

You are a lion’s cub, Judah;
    you return from the prey, my son.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down,
    like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
The scepter will not depart from Judah,
    nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he to whom it belongs shall come
    and the obedience of the nations shall be his (Genesis 49:9-10).

The word that the Lion of Judah and the Root of David (from Isaiah 11) had triumphed was welcome news to John. And the use of the phrase “The Lion of Judah” meant that the one to whom the scepter belonged had indeed come. And he was making himself ready to wipe away every tear.

The truth is that Wesley’s words apply to life as well as the Revelation. Life is not lived without tears, and neither will life be understood without them. But the good news is that we have a glimpse of the one who is being sent to wipe the tears away – the Lion of Judah is coming, he is just on the horizon.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Revelation 6